


Crash and Burn

by Dominoes95



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Abusive Relationships, Drug Abuse, Drug Addiction, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Rape Recovery
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-02
Updated: 2015-11-05
Packaged: 2018-04-29 16:00:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5133634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dominoes95/pseuds/Dominoes95
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Then he saw the pupils blown wide, Hartley was high on something. “Hartley, its Cisco.” He said cautiously. Hartley looked confused at first but then grinned. “Cisquito!” He laughed manically but then began coughing harshly into his sleeve.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story is mostly about how Hartley and Cisco get together, the affect of Hartley's traumatic experiences on his personality. Relationship changes between characters, not canon compliant starts about a year after the Sound and The Fury.

Cisco was walking out to his car after a night at the bar, Barry, Caitlin, Jay and Iris had wanted to go out to celebrate the last meta human they had caught. He pulled on his hat covering his ears, winters in Central City were harsh. It was late the dark streets barley lit, he had to park a few blocks away due to the little space.

As he approached his car he saw two people under the light pole, the smaller one being pushed around. They were definitely arguing about something. Cisco stopped he contemplated calling Barry. But the person stood up and began to walk away, the smaller guy slid down sitting on the ground his head down. 

Cisco walked toward him the snow falling had begun to layer the sidewalk and the cars. “Hey, you alright?” He called out, no answer. “You're gonna freeze man.” Cisco said as he rubbed his gloved hands together. 

He was now up close he saw the guy was only wearing a dark sweater and jeans. Snow had begun to collect in his dark hair. The bag he was clutching was worn and his hands were bare. Cisco realized the guy was homeless, he felt bad having nothing to offer him. 

“I have some cash if it would help.” Cisco said. This made the man look up, Cisco was not surprised. When he saw the guy's face was when his stomach dropped. 

It was Hartley, it had been over a year since he last seen him that night when he escaped. Hartley used the pole to pull himself onto his feet. He was very unsteady which made Cisco nervous. 

“What do you want for it?” He asked, voice hoarse. Cisco realized he didn’t recognize him. “You want me to suck you off or something?” Cisco was shocked, what had happened that Hartley was on the streets offering sex to strangers. The guy had several PhD’s. 

Then he saw the pupils blown wide, Hartley was high on something. “Hartley, its Cisco.” He said cautiously. Hartley looked confused at first but then grinned. “Cisquito!” He laughed manically but then began coughing harshly into his sleeve.

When he finished he looked up swaying dangerously close to falling. Cisco could see his lips tinted blue from the cold the shivering had only gotten worse. 

“Hartley, you're sick let me help.” Cisco said, he was genuinely worried he may hate Hartley but letting him drug and freeze himself to death was not going to happen. Hartley pulled away backing up fear on his face.

“No! You won't lock me up!” He yelled his voice cracking. “I'm not locking you up, just come home with me where its warm.” Cisco said calmly, he knew Hartley was not in his right mind. 

Hartley started coughing again this time collapsing to his knees. Cisco rushed over gently putting a hand on the man's back. The shaking was getting worse, he wasn’t sure if he should bring Hartley to the hospital. But the guy was scared and he doubted being around a lot of people would calm him down. 

He pulled the smaller man to his feet Hartley was leaning heavily against him as he walked to the car. After setting him in the passenger seat Cisco got in on his side and turned the heat all the way up hoping to warm Hartley up. 

Once they got to his apartment Cisco pulled the now unresponsive Hartley out of his car dragging him into the building. He was becoming more worried with each minute, Cisco knew the signs of hypothermia and had no idea how long Hartley had been out in the cold. 

When in his apartment Cisco set Hartley down on the couch and pulled off his own outer layers before going back to the smaller man. Hartley's clothes were cold and damp not helping his situation. Now that they were in the light Cisco could see Hartley's fingers as well as his lips were blue. Small scrapes and bruises marred the man's face and neck from an earlier beating, Cisco wondered if it was the guy he saw with Hartley before he left. 

He pulled up the sweater and shirt underneath it tossing it onto the coffee table. He was shocked at the damage done. Larger bruises and cuts in different stages of healing on his front and back, Cisco was enraged that someone would do this. He had laid Hartley down on the couch he didn’t even fight him when removing his clothes. The bruising hand prints on his arms and hips made Cisco wince, to be held down that hard would be awful. Then he saw the track marks on his arms confirming Cisco's suspicions. 

Cisco took off the torn jeans after the shoes and socks and he wrapped Hartley in a thick blanket he had on his other couch. Hartley's eyes were open but he was staring blankly into space. He took the temperature it was 88 degrees, Cisco rushed into the kitchen and began boiling water.

He pulled out his phone texting Caitlin, she was better at treating people. He told her he had found Hartley drugged out of his mind, injured and half frozen to death. She replied within minutes saying she would be there as soon as she could. 

Cisco sighed in relief and went to his room pulling some clothes out of a drawer. He went back over to Hartley and pulled the blanket back carefully pulling the thick sweater, sweatpants and socks on him. Hartley whimpered in pain at the movement, looking up at Cisco fear in his gray blue eyes. 

Knocking on the door interrupted the silence, Cisco stood up quickly opening the door to find Caitlin standing there. “Cisco, are you okay?” She asked coming in.

“Yes I’m fine. Please look at Hartley he's in bad shape.” Cisco's voice was tense. She followed him into the living room where Hartley was laying curled up on the couch tremors shaking his small body. She gently put her hand on his shoulder making his eyes open she saw the dilation, Cisco had mentioned he was on something. She checked his pulse it was high she looked at Cisco her concern now matching his.

“What did he take?” She asked. “No idea, I found him afterward.” He said.

Hartley's skin felt like ice. “What is his temperature?” She asked quickly. “88 degrees last I checked.” Caitlin cursed at this new information. “Get something hot and sweet for him to drink, we need to get his temperature up before anything else.” She said quickly. 

Cisco raced back into the kitchen seeing that his water was almost near boiling he turned the stove off and poured it into a mug he rummaged through the drawers and found a few packets of hot chocolate mix. He poured about half into the mug and mixed before bringing it out to Caitlin.

 

“Hartley, Hartley you need to drink this.” She said to him as she tilted his head up. Hartley's eyes opened a bit exhaustion clear on his face. “So tired.” He whispered. “I know but you can't fall asleep till we get you're temperature up.” She said tensely. 

She got him to take a few sips before putting him back down. “Its sweet.” He slurred. “Yes, Hartley you need to tell me what you took.”

“Don't know.” He said softly confusion making its way back. She looked at Cisco. “I don’t suppose you have a heating blanket.” She asked but he shook his head no. “We just have to keep getting him to drink and monitor his temperature.” She told the boy. 

“How long till the drugs wear off?” Cisco asked. “Depends on how much and how long ago he took them. I'll take a blood sample to check what it was.” She said pulling a smaller bag out of her purse. It contained medical supplies.

Caitlin took Hartley's wrist from under the blanket, she grimaced at the track marks lining his inner elbow, she couldn’t believe Hartley would do something this damaging to himself. The guy was always regarded as a genius and prodigy whatever happened must have been bad. It was true that anyone could fall victim to drug addiction.

Once she had the sample she put the vial back into her bag, Hartley hadn’t reacted at all to the needle being slid into his arm. The next few hours went by slowly with getting Hartley to drink and stay awake. Caitlin cleaned the worst looking wounds, his ribs were cracked and he had taken some bad hits to his stomach. He needed to be checked for internal bleeding. 

By the time his temperature began to get to a normal level the sun had risen over the horizon and Caitlin and Cisco were exhausted. Hartley fell asleep quickly once they stopped monitoring his temperature. 

Cisco watched the smaller boy's sleeping face, he was so thin and pale it worried Cisco to no end what he had been up to the past year. He always had been jealous of the other boy, especially when he got Dr. Wells attention. When he came back for revenge Cisco prided himself on being the one Wells looked to for help. But that had ended quickly once they found out who he really was. Their constant banter was the highlight of his day back then, always wanting to hear what clever comeback Hartley would have for his insults. It also didn’t help that the boy was very attractive, Cisco would never admit he had a crush on Hartley since the first time they met. He doubted the other boy would feel similar, Cisco knew nothing of Hartley's relationships if he even had any they were very private. 

Caitlin had laid down on his other couch falling asleep as well. Cisco couldn’t sleep, tense worry still flowing through his head. What would happen next? Was Hartley going to leave again?


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Flashbacks are in italics. Thanks for all the comments and kudos, I really like writing this fic.

Hartley felt warm when he woke up, that was new. The room had light coming in from a window the soft couch underneath him was the most comfortable place he had slept in weeks. The boy glanced around the room, he was in an apartment his bag on the coffee table along with his clothes.

 

 That made him tense, the clothes he was wearing were different then he last remembered. The thought of someone else touching him made him queasy. Hartley's head was pounding and he was dizzy, he remembered getting high last night and then nothing after that.

 

 He sat up on the couch ignoring the nausea and dizziness he stood up and went over to the table opening his bag he dug through to find the extra cocaine he had. He longed for the relief of the drug, he didn’t care if it hurt him he just wanted some control.

 

 His drugs and syringes were gone, he checked quickly several times getting frantic. If someone had stole his things he was going to kill them.

 “I threw them out.” A voice said. Hartley winced at the volume his head still pounding. He looked over his shoulder seeing Cisco Ramon standing there. How the hell did Cisco find him?

 

Cisco must have seen the confusion on his face because he began talking again. “I found you drugged out of your mind and frozen on the street last night. You offered to fuck me for cash.” The other boy said crudely.

 

Hartley felt his face heat up with embarrassment, he had very little memory of when he was high.

 

“You had no right to take my things.” Hartley finally said, his voice rough. “I do if you're killing yourself with them.” Cisco countered like he had planned for this attack.

 

“You hate me, why do you even care?” He grumbled. Cisco's face softened at this. “I don't hate you, I just hate the way you act sometimes. Come on we're physicists have to stick together.” He joked.

 

Hartley's face paled even more he looked physically ill. “Hey do you need to throw up?” Cisco asked tensely. Hartley nodded weakly trying to stand but his legs were incredibly unsteady. Cisco helped him to the bathroom closing the door halfway to give the guy privacy.

 

The sounds of Hartley gagging and throwing up were not pleasant so Cisco began texting Caitlin with updates. She had gone into work and was going to tell the others about Hartley.

 

After ten minutes there was silence, Cisco slowly came back to the door he could hear Hartley sobbing. Cisco pushed the door open to see the other boy sitting on the floor his knees pulled up to his chest and his head down.

 

He knelt down next to the other boy putting a gentle hand on his shoulder. Hartley tensed up at the touch, he looked at Cisco his eyes red and tears soaking his face.

 

“Hey, you're going to be okay.” Cisco said. Hartley was silent staring at the tiled floor. After a few minutes he spoke. “I think about dying so often I should just get it over with.” Cisco could hear the pain in his voice. “I have nothing to live for.”

 

Cisco needed to get him thinking about something else, it was obvious Hartley was deeply depressed. “Hey why don’t we go back in the living room and I’ll get you something to eat.” Cisco said standing up. Hartley grimaced at the thought of food his stomach still churning from throwing up, Cisco's timing was awful as usual which made him smile.

 

Cisco pulled him to his feet and he was able to walk slightly better back out to the couch. He sat down pulling the blanket into his lap clutching it tightly. Cisco watched the other boy sadly, he looked so lost.

 

Cisco got a text that from Caitlin that she and Barry were coming over to see him. The knocking on the door a few minutes later took Cisco's head out of his phone and he went to answer it. Hartley had laid back down exhausted.

 

The two came in Caitlin looked much more relaxed than Barry. “Hey guys, so it's a pretty quiet day.” He began to say. Barry nodded. “How is he?”

 

Cisco sighed, “He freaked when he realized the rest of his drugs were gone. What was he on anyway?” He asked Caitlin.

 

“Cocaine, extremely addictive.” She said wearily. “I expected something like that, he threw up I think he's also sick.” Cisco said to them.

 

“How did you get him to come with you?” Barry asked. “He barely knew who I was he was so out of it, he would of gone with anyone which is really bad out on the streets.” Cisco said grimly.

 

“Did he talk to you?” Caitlin asked. “Not much, just angry I took his drugs. Then he told me he wished he was dead.” Cisco ended grimly.

 

“That sounds nothing like the guy I fought last year.” Barry said, he felt bad knowing Caitlin and Cisco didn’t want to see Hartley die. Even if he could have an awful personality sometimes.

 

The three entered the living room Hartley was sleeping on the couch Caitlin went over to him checking his pulse and temperature. “He's burning up, Cisco we should bring him back to the labs so we can treat this better.” Caitlin said to the two.

 

Barry lifted Hartley he was much lighter than he expected. “He weighs almost nothing.” He said sounding concerned.

 

“Yeah, he hasn’t been taking care of himself at all.” Caitlin's voice laced with concern.

 

Once back at the labs Caitlin set Hartley up on a saline solution and antibiotics to treat any other illness he may have. She also set up a nutrition drip once she saw how low his levels were on the blood work.

 

Hartley slept for hours while the rest of the team went about their daily business. Caitlin looked up from her microscope when Dr. Stein entered the room. He was doing a lot better now and able to help out more.

 

“Still looking at Dr. Rathaway's blood work?” He asked upon entering the lab. Caitlin sighed and nodded, she looked over to he older man smiling sadly. “I've read quite a few of the studies he published in quantum theory. Very bright young man.” Stein said sadly.

 

“He was always Wells favorite Cisco hated him for it.” Caitlin said, her mind seemed to be off someplace else. “It seems Cisco has gotten over that, I’ve never seen him more worried about anything before.” Stein said.

 

Caitlin nodded, “Yeah, I'm sure there's more then he's letting on.” She always suspected something was going on, the constant teasing and arguing she suspected they liked each other. But nothing ever happened, she wondered if Cisco still had feelings for Hartley.

 

She looked up at the screen tracking Hartley's vitals, his temperature was still high but not dangerously and his blood pressure was slightly above average.

 

* * *

 

 

_Hartley was walking down the streets of Central City his hands shoved in his pockets. All the work he put into getting his revenge on Wells and the Flash had been for nothing. Of course he was able to trick Cisco, he could talk his way out of anything with him. He felt a little bad having to knock him out twice but it couldn’t be helped._

 

_He was short on money his apartment was weeks late on rent and he hadn’t bought food for over a week. Once he entered the bar he sat at the counter ordering a strong drink, alcohol calmed his frayed nerves._

 

_A man took the seat next to him, he looked slightly familiar. “Hartley Rathaway.” He said smirking at him. “I've wondered when we would meet.” He saw the confusion on Hartley's face._

 

“ _Len Snart, I heard about you going after the Flash and his buddies by yourself. Even managed to escape their creepy prison.” He sounded impressed._

 

“ _What do you want?” His tone was bitter. “We can help each other, I need a mechanic and you need revenge as well as me. I've been putting together a team...we have similar interests.” Snart said._

 

_Hartley smirked, “I highly doubt that.”_

 

“ _Well you need money, from what I heard you were cut from the family money, must be hard by yourself.” Len went on._

 

“ _I'm fine thanks for the concern.” Hartley's tone oozed with sarcasm._

 

“ _Well with my team everyone will get an equal cut and all you have to do is what you're best at.” Snart pitched to him._

 

_Hartley knew this offer was his best bet on getting anything done, he just wanted to jerk Snart around a little first._

 

“ _I heard the Flash got you too, what do they call you...cold something?” He said._

 

“ _Captain Cold, when you want to stop by any time’s fine.” Snart said as he got up. He told Hartley the location of the base before leaving._

 

_Hartley sighed staring at the counter top his head in his hands, what was he going to do now? Getting involved with criminals was different from doing stuff by himself. Trying to get his life back to normal was impossible thanks to Wells. Teaming up with Snart would be dangerous but at this point he couldn't bring himself to care._

 

_What else did he have to lose? Having his parents and all their friends hear about him was the highlight of the last few months. They were already ashamed of him why not embarrass them more. He would never forgive them for the pain they caused._

 


End file.
